Daily Archives: June 2, 2021

Sunshine, sandy beaches and some 700 tropical islands make the Bahamas one of the most sought-after Caribbean retreats in the world. This haven for North American tourists is relatively easy to access for US and Canadian citizens; however, some rules do apply.

Most travelers with a valid US or Canadian passport that contains multiple blank pages and is well within its expiration date should have no trouble clearing customs in the Bahamas. Likewise, visitors from Latin America should be presented with few issues at the border. Still, these guidelines will help you earn that coveted passport stamp in the Bahamas and avoid any potential obstacles at your port of entry.

US citizens do not need a visa to visit the Bahamas. Canadian citizens who plan to stay less than eight months do not need a visa to visit the Bahamas.

Permanent US residents who are not American citizens must apply for a visa to the Bahamas for stays longer than 30 days. Additionally, a valid national passport is required. A green card is required for visits less than 30 days; however, a visa is not.

Canadian permanent residents may stay in the Bahamas for 30 days without a visa; however, they must bring a valid passport that expires no less than three months after their last day in the country.

If traveling directly from Canada, an original Canadian Permanent Resident card that expires no less than three months after their last day in the country is accepted. If traveling via another country, that card must expire no less than six months after their last day in the Bahamas. A return ticket is also required.

Citizens of Latin America are not required to carry a Bahamas visa is their stay is less than three months. They are required to have a return ticket and proof of lodging confirmation.

Indian nationals with a visa issued by Canada, the United Kingdom, United States or a Schengen Member State are not required to carry a Bahamas visa and may stay for a maximum of 90 days in country.

The Bahamas requires a visa for residents of 78 countries, a list of which begins on page six here. Notable nations include Egypt, Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Laos, the Philippines, India, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Taiwan, Ukraine, UAE and Vietnam.

The average cost for a visa to the Bahamas is $110. Visas with biometric data cost around $250. Forms must be completed in block letters and must be submitted with supporting documents including a valid passport.

Requirements may also include a police report, flight itinerary, copies of previously held visas and foreign marriage and birth certificates. It is recommended that applicants contact the Bahamas Consulate Division before applying.

According to the government of the Bahamas, the turnaround time on visas can be up to two weeks.

The Bahamas Consulate General accepts extension applications for visas for up to eight months. Applicants must apply at the Bahamas Immigration Department in Nassau.

Know whether you need a yellow fever vaccination certificate or not.

Visitors over age one must carry a yellow fever vaccination certificate if arriving from a nation with a risk of yellow fever transmission. These are mostly nations in Latin America and Africa. Visitors who have transited through an airport in a nation with risk of yellow fever transmission for more than 12 hours must also carry a vaccination certificate valid for at least 10 days before entering the Bahamas.

Be mindful of credit card fraud in the Bahamas. The US Embassy has received reports of credit card fraud in the Bahamas. The embassy urges all US citizens to check their credit and debit accounts for unusual activity and notify card companies of fraudulent activity if found.

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Do you need a visa to go to the Bahamas - Lonely Planet Travel News

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Young Cougars forward Caleb Lohner (33) draws a foul as he collides with Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Drew Timme (2), in West Coast Conference Basketball action between the Brigham Young Cougars and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at the Marriott Center in Provo, on Monday, Feb. 8, 2021.

| May 27, 2021, 11:27 p.m.

| Updated: 11:39 p.m.

Over the last two seasons, coach Mark Pope has made BYU mens basketball relevant once again. And the Cougars are making sure they stay in the spotlight.

The Cougars have locked down a spot in what is annually one of the biggest early-season tournaments on the calendar, according to reports.

CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein was the first to report that BYU will join Kansas, Tennessee, USC, NC State, Wisconsin, Butler and Dayton in the 2022 Battle 4 Atlantis.

The tournament, which takes place the week of Thanksgiving, is played at Atlantis Paradise Island on Paradise Island in Nassau, Bahamas each year.

For the 2021-22 season, the Cougars have already signed on to participate in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Dec. 22-25. The field will include host Hawaii, Liberty, Northern Iowa, South Florida, Wyoming, Stanford and Vanderbilt.

BYU was supposed to head to the Bahamas in 2020 for the Junkaroo Jam, but the pandemic made a change to those plans. Instead, the Cougars played in the Roman Legends Classic, which was played in a bubble-like environment in Connecticut.

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[Sports] - Report: BYU headed to Bahamas in 2022 for Battle 4 Atlantis - Salt Lake Tribune

THE seventh edition of the Tour de Grand Bahama was held over the weekend in Grand Bahama.

It was also used by the Bahamas Cycling Federation as one of the qualifiers for the national team that will represent the Bahamas at the Caribbean Cycling Championships, scheduled for July 15-17.

Federation secretary general Barron Turbo Musgrove praised Kenton Roker, the Grand Bahama Cycling Association and the Grand Bahama Cycling Club for putting on the event despite the restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic. The competition was fierce from start to finish with competitors from Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, New Providence, Grand Bahama and a four-man team from the Turks and Caicos Islands, Musgrove said. It was an exciting race from start to finish. It was like watching one of the major tours going on.

The routes were well-organised throughout the city of Freeport and a lot of persons were able to view the competition.

There were three stages of races that included the four-mile time trials on Saturday and two hours later there was a quadrium race.

On Sunday, the event concluded with a 60-mile road race.

Felix Neely from New Providence, Lorin Sawyer from Spanish Wells, Eleuthera took second and Kevin Daley from New Providence and Sean Rodgers from the Turks and Caicos Islands were tied for third and Lorenzo Carter was fifth.

In the Masters One category, Leeburgh Gibbs took the victory with Kavin Ewing second.

Kenton Roker third and Davaughn Williams finished fourth in the masters.

And in the Masters Two category, Kenneth Grant got the win over Ricardo Grant.

Sylvia the Beast Bateman from Grand Bahama emerged as the female winner.

She was followed in second place by Mary Missy Gibbs, also from Grand Bahama.

Smot ia Nono Moreau was third and Tannisha Grant got fourth.

The winners of the junior boys category were Ayden Bain, the overall champion, Launy Duncombe, second and Barron Musgrove Jr, third.

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Seventh edition of Tour de Grand Bahama was a blast - Bahamas Tribune

NASSAU, BAHAMAS According to the Ministry of Healths vaccine tracker released yesterday, there have been 55,037 doses of vaccines administered in The Bahamas to date, with 8,659 people being fully vaccinated with two doses.

Some 46,378 people have received one dose of the vaccine and are still awaiting the second dose required to become fully vaccinated.

On New Providence, 34,344 people have received their first dose while 7,051 are fully vaccinated; and on Grand Bahama, 6,796 people have received their first dose while 1,602 people are fully vaccinated.

As for the remaining Family Islands, 1,354 people have received first doses on Eleuthera, 874 on Abaco, 832 on Exuma, 603 on Andros, 398 on Bimini, 324 on Long Island, 289 on the Berry Islands, 252 on Cat Island, 129 on Inagua, 101 on San Salvador, 32 on Acklins, 21 on Crooked Island, 18 on Mayaguana and 11 on Rum Cay.

Three people on Cat Island and three people on Andros are fully vaccinated.

Health officials also confirmed 36 new cases of COVID-19 in The Bahamas on Saturday, taking the number of cases in the country to 11,796. Of the new cases, 30 were on New Providence, two on Grand Bahama, one on Abaco and three on Andros.

The number of active cases stands at 756, with 57 people currently hospitalized 54 of whom are moderately ill and three who are in the Intensive Care Unit.

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VACCINATION PROGRESS: More than 8600 fully vaccinated individuals in The Bahamas; over 46000 awaiting second dose - EyeWitness News

NASSAU, BAHAMAS Coined the Accelerate Bahamas budget, the governments fiscal plans for the upcoming period will see sizeable increases across its ministries and agencies, tax increases in certain sectors and a continued surge of funds to the nations social safety net, as The Bahamas turns its sights on preparing for economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overall, government expenditure will increase by $251 million, from $2.57 billion this fiscal period to an estimated $2.82 billion.

The bulk of the sum will go toward the governments largest expense, wages and salaries of public servants, in the amount of $670.9 million.

Just shy of $490 million will be spent on interest, $390 million on subsidies and $266 million on social benefits.

As it relates to interest, the budgeted allocation for public debt servicing is forecasted to increase from $396.9 million to $512.4 million an increase of just over $115 million.

In 2019/2020, $345.3 million was expended on servicing the nations debt.

As revealed in Parliament on Wednesday, the national debt is forecasted to swell to $10.38 billion, 84.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

In the upcoming fiscal period, 2021/2022, the government projects to take in $1.8 billion in proceeds from borrowing, with $986.8 million of that sum representing new borrowing.

The current budget was branded as the Resilient Bahamas Plan and saw large spending cuts across the board, with tax exemptions and incentives as well as unprecedented spending to support unemployment benefits and food assistance amid the height of the pandemic just six months after Hurricane Dorian dealt Abaco and Grand Bahama crushing blows in 2019.

During his budget communication, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said the government sought to stabilize the economy during this fiscal period and provided much-needed social support, while planting seeds for an accelerated national recovery.

According to the prime minister, the new budget prepares for the upcoming year and represents a plan to move from restoration to growth.

He said: It will build upon a new foundation and accelerate our national recovery in the process.

Just one government agency and three ministries will see budget cuts.

The Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction is expected to receive $8.7 million, down from the $11.2 million in 2020/2021.

The governments allocation for the Ministry of Finance is forecasted to contract by just over $10 million from $263.5 million to $253.2 million.

The bulk of the decrease can be attributed to the more than $10 million cut in expenditure for the National Drug Plan Arrears, which is estimated to decline from $17 million to $6.3 million, as well as the more than halving of Special Economic Assistance Measures, from $68.8 million to $30 million.

The $8.3 million for the Bahamas National Statistical Institute ($8.3 million), which has been transferred under the Ministry of Finances budget from the Department of Statistics, increased from $6.8 million this fiscal period.

The line item Budget Reserve Appropriations, with a budgeted $23.2 million, appears to be a new line item.

The governments unemployment benefit is set to end in June, although Minister of State for Finance Senator Kwasi Thompson said during a press conference yesterday it is anticipated that those benefits will continue until September.

Meanwhile, the allocation for Lucayan Renewal Holdings stands at $3 million for 2021/2022.

The Treasury Department will also see a decrease from $82.7 million to $78.2 million.

And the Ministry of Healths budget will once again see a marginal decrease, from just over $298 million to $297 million.

The Provision for Contingencies line item was zeroed out from $21.3 million, while the allocation for provisions for COVID-19 contingenciesstands at $10 million.

Meanwhile, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is expected to see its budget increase from $38 million to $45 million in the upcoming period.

In 2019/2020, the NHIA received $24 million.

According to the budget, the estimated allocation for the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation will increase from $106 million this fiscal period to $140.5 million in the upcoming period an additional $34 million.

While the government intends to collect $40 million from tourist health visas, according to the projected revenue in the budget, it also expects to spend $37 million on Tourism Health VISA expenses a new line item in the upcoming fiscal period.

Allocations will also increase for the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs by $3.1 million; the Office of the Judiciary by another $3.1 million; the Registrar Generals Department by just over $3 million; the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services by $6.2 million; the Ministry of National Security by $4.7 million, from $7.4 million to $12.1 million; the Royal Bahamas Police Force, from $122.2 million to $124 million; the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, from $57.9 million to $62.2 million; and the Ministry of Education by $2.6 million.

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Accelerate Bahamas budget reveals sizable allocation increases across the board - EyeWitness News

NASSAU, BAHAMAS Despite the mammoth task of conducting the countrys census, Acting Financial Secretary Marlon Johnson said yesterday that the government will be able to complete the 2021 Census of the Population and Housing, indicating the process will officially begin mid-summer.

Speaking to Eyewitness News on the matter, Johnson explained that the initial part of the census process will be a listing exercise, where personnel will go around to various communities and update addresses and locations in a database.

He noted that the listing exercise will serve to validate where individuals live and provide them with the option to be able to do their census forms themselves online, over the phone, via Zoom or opt for an in-person interview.

That enables us to roll out the census taking itself digitally given where we are with the COVID virus, Johnson said.

In February 2020, the Ministry of Finance announced 40 workers had started pre-test training with the questions that will be included in the new census.

At the time, officials said the official Census Pre-Test would be launched on New Providence and Grand Bahama in March ahead of the official country-wide census in September. Costs were projected to cost around $5 million.

However, The Bahamas recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March 15 and continues to fluctuate between lockdowns and restrictions.

Johnson noted: It really would not have been advisable or even practical to have people going into the field and to go into peoples home during the pandemic The team did some consultation and we looked to see how we can get it done in a way that is sensitive to the pandemic and starts us to move ahead to taking it online.

He said this listing exercise will take place over the next two to three months and by mid-to-late summer, the census rollout is expected to begin.

Johnson said they hope to have the census substantially done before the end of the year.

It is something that this team does every decade, so they know very much what they are doing, he assured.

Theres a full-time program where additional staff are employed and engaged. They will get it done in a matter of months.

Last week, the Department of Statistics swore in some 70 personnel who will assist in gathering information for the department. Twenty personnel will gather information on Grand Bahama.

The census listers will get residents names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for the census to be done virtually for the first time in Bahamian history.

The census listers were sworn in and each signed a legally binding oath of secrecy at the departments offices.

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GETTING READY: National census to begin rollout this summer after months-long delays due to COVID - EyeWitness News

NASSAU, BAHAMAS Recognizing the vital role that debates can have on national elections, the Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG) has lent its support to the National Election Debate series (NEDS).

ORG has partnered with presenting sponsors, the University of The Bahamas (UB) and Verizon Media, as well as other civil society, private sector and media groups involved to promote the series. The second debate will take place tonight at 8pm with a theme of COVID-19 and Climate Change and two more debates will follow.

ORG is also encouraging all political parties and candidates to participate so the event can be an inclusive and accessible chance for prospective voters to hear directly on a range of issues that are critical to the future of The Bahamas.

The non-partisan, not-for-profit civic foundation holds that establishing a two-way dialogue between government and citizens is critical to building public trust and strengthening democracy. Historically, election campaigns have relied heavily on celebratory and promotional one-way communication methods such as rallies and media ads. These do not support voters in making an objective and critical analysis of policy solutions that are offered by the various candidates. ORG feels that the National Election Debate Series can empower voters by offering side-by-side comparisons of their choices for election.

Research shows that pre-election debates help voters, who make better-informed choices, and candidates, who are pushed to focus on policy issues and tangible solutions. They also have post-election benefits, promoting the accountability of those who are elected to follow up on their campaign promises and building the trust of the public in the government. Successive administrations have struggled to fulfill policies that were platforms of their campaign manifestos.

ORG sees the greater involvement of citizens in national development as a key to the future success and sustainability of The Bahamas, having launched The Year of the Active Citizen earlier this year.

ORG Engagement Coordinator Steffon Evans stated: Election debates are a fundamental component of participatory governance. Following the economic and social devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be critical for Bahamians to make solid decisions on how the country might move forward with its recovery.

Evans operates ORGs citizen engagement and education activities, including the Year of the Active Citizenship.

ORG Executive Director Matthew Aubry sees the debates as a crucial step toward a modern and transparent governance in The Bahamas and stated: The National Election Debate series can provide Bahamians with a chance to move beyond the manifesto and hear the plan behind the promise. They support a culture of governance that is not specific to any one party or sector and is indicative of a forward step we can take as a nation.

ORG applauded the partners, parties and candidates who are participating thus far as they demonstrate a respect for an inclusive and accountable exchange between the public and the government to drive more effective policy. ORG hopes that all parties will see the value of the National Election Debates series to the Bahamian voters and choose to participate in the final sessions.

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Debates are critical to participatory governance and strengthening of democracy, notes ORG - EyeWitness News

FREEPORT, GRAND BAHAMA Seventy-two young people were presented with Job Ready certificates during a ceremony on Monday, May 31, by Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Iram Lewis at St Pauls Methodist Church Hall.

The group, which started the program seven weeks ago, hailed from East End to West End and many left the program gainfully employed.

During his remarks to the participants, Lewis noted that despite the difficulties the island and the world has been through due to the pandemic, the class has persevered and as such, they are now equipped to work in the new norm and excel not only locally but abroad.

He said the participants represent the best of the young people today.

Far too often, the narrative of our young people today is negative, he said. I am proud to say these young people show us the positive the great potential for the future.

Lewis added that parents and family members ought to be proud of these young people who give hope for a brighter tomorrow.

In The Bahamas, typically, the youth are presented with a variety of social issues, crime, poverty and a varied of social inequalities. My ministry understands the importance of our youth overcoming these issues on the road to a successful life, he said.

Therefore, we provide opportunities for youth from all walks of life to realign themselves and get on the right track through our soft skills development and on-the-job training.

The program, described as diversified and blended, hosted virtual and in-person sessions for recent high school graduates and college students.

I have always believed investment in young people is security for the future, Lewis said.

While addressing corporate sponsors, the minister thanked them for their continued support, particularly during this difficult time. He encouraged parents and relatives to continue encouraging young people, adding that they would not be there without them.

To the graduates, he said: You have survived a global pandemic, the worst hurricane in 50 years, government lockdowns, school closures and an economic downturn in Grand Bahama and you are still here. Whether you realize it or not, you are overcomers.

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Govt's Job Ready programme on GB closes with 72 participants - EyeWitness News